Private schools in Haryana have recently got the Punjab and Haryana High Court's nod to increase the fee as per their discretion.
The court's verdict gave breather to a more than 400 private schools in Haryana, which were prohibited to increase fee by more than 20%, by the director of education in 2009, thus upholding their autonomy over the determination of tuition fee.
The court had observed: "The institutions are being asked to eat up their reserves to meet the enhanced requirement of paying salary to the teachers on the basis of recommendation of sixth pay commission, which would in a way gag these institutions to generate revenue surpluses and may ultimately lead to retarding the development and expansion of the institutions."
The association of schools was represented by the Haryana Progressive Schools' Conference (HPSC), which include more than 50 private schools in Gurgaon such as Delhi Public Schools (sector 45, Sushant Lok and Maruti Kunj), DAV, Salwan, Scottish High, and Bluebells among others.
"We had to increase the fee beyond 20% because of the steep increase in the salaries of teachers as per the directions of the sixth pay commission two years ago. Moreover, the director of education has no right to interfere in the fee structure of private schools as each school has its own personality and standard," said Colonel K Pratap Singh, senior vice president of Haryana Progressive Schools' Conference (HPSC), the petitioner.
However, Colonel Singh, had assured that the parents needn't worry because no fee hike would follow the court order, atleast for this year.
{{/usCountry}}However, Colonel Singh, had assured that the parents needn't worry because no fee hike would follow the court order, atleast for this year.
{{/usCountry}}Though it is a clear win for the private schools but much to the delight of thousands of parents, the court also added some riders.
The judgment given by Justice Ranjit Singh had further added: "If the director of school education finds that the institutions … resorting to profiteering ... or are charging the capitation fee, then the director would …. issue directions to interfere in the charging of the fee to the extent that it leads to commercialisation/profiteering."